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RFA Wins Gracie Award

WASHINGTON – Radio Free Asia (RFA) has won a prestigious Gracie Award for its Cantonese language entry “Kidnapped Woman Reunites with Family” in the international contest’s category of outstanding investigative program or feature. The annual Gracie Awards recognize programming created by women and focused on issues relating to women. They are sponsored by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation.

“Radio Free Asia strives to tell the stories of the subjugated, oppressed, and those left without recourse,” said Libby Liu, President of RFA. “Unfortunately, women and girls too often fall into this category, as they are trafficked, abused, and left vulnerable without any way to reclaim their lives.

“We are thrilled to earn this award and appreciate the attention it helps bring to human trafficking and the struggle too many women face in Asia and throughout the world.”

For RFA’s winning entry, Cantonese Service reporter Vivian Kwan produced a two-part feature about the reunion of a Chinese woman with her birth parents, from whom she was kidnapped as an 8-year-old before being forced to do housework for an adoptive family almost a thousand miles from her hometown. The woman, originally from China’s Southwestern province of Guizhou, met her parents and siblings after tracking them down following 22 years of separation. RFA’s story dramatizes the plight of young girls trafficked in China by focusing on the torturous life of one of its many victims. This report was broadcast by RFA’s Cantonese Service in January 2012.

RFA’s accomplishment will be recognized at the 38th annual Gracie Awards Gala on May 21 in Los Angeles. Winners in this year’s competition included CNN, Al Jazeera English, ABC News, NPR, Bloomberg Radio, and Univision, among others.